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Forty states, comprising the majority of the American population, are "right-to-carry" states. Statistics show that in these states the crime rate fell (or did not rise) after the right-to-carry law became active (as of July, 2006). Crime rates involving gun owners with carry permits have consistently been about 0.02% of all carry permit holders since Floridas right-to-carry law started in 1988 (Florida Department of Justice, 1998).
People with concealed carry permits are: (1) 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses than the general public, and (2) 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for non-violent offenses than the general public (William Sturdevant, unpublished study reported in August 2000 edition of Americas 1st Freedom). In Texas, citizens with concealed carry permits are 14 times less likely to commit a crime. They are also five times less likely to commit a violent crime (Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News, September, 2000). Of 14,000 concealed-carry licensees in Oregon, only 4 (0.03%) were convicted of the criminal (not necessarily violent) use or possession of a firearm. In Florida, a state that has allowed concealed carry since late 1987, you are twice as likely to be attacked by an alligator as by a person with a concealed carry permit (Florida Department of State, Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report, 1998 Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, December 1998). A different study in Texas concludes that the four year violent crime arrest rate for concealed carry permit holders is 128 per 100,000. For the general population, it is 710 per 100,000. In other words, concealed carry permit holders are 5.5 times less likely to commit a violent crime (An Analysis Of The Arrest Rate Of Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders As Compared To The Arrest Rate Of The Entire Texas Population, William E. Sturdevant, September 1, 2000).
The author of this article should pay far more attention to verifiable facts that inciting false fear among the readership. If owning and carrying a gun is not for you, that's fine, just don't attempt to impose your beliefs on me and my liberties.